2023 Yosef Wosk VMI Fellow Announced

Vancouver Manuscript Intensive is delighted to announce the recipient of the 2023 Yosef Wosk VMI Fellowship. Shantell Powell will be working with VMI Mentor Gurjinder Basran on her fiction project during the January-to-June Six Month Intensive.

We received applications from an international pool of talented authors seeking mentorship for their works-in-progress. We thank each person who applied and want to state what a pleasure it was to spend time with the submissions. We are encouraged to know how much fine work is taking place all around us, both in Canada and internationally. The abundant interest confirms our efforts to support authors at all stages of their careers. We wish each applicant continued success with their writing as we extend a warm welcome to Shantell.

Shantell Powell is an eclectic writer, multidisciplinary artist, and swamp hag who grew up in an apocalyptic cult while living on the land and off the grid. She is a graduate of the Writers’ Studio at Simon Fraser University, the LET(s) Lead Academy at Yale University, and holds a BA from the University of New Brunswick. Her writing is in Augur, Cloud Lake Literary Journal, Feminist Studies Journal, Prairie Fire, Yellow Medicine Journal, and more. When she’s not writing, she’s getting filthy in the woods. You can find her on YouTube, her occasionally-updated blog, and on an assortment of social media platforms as @shanmonster

Gurjinder Basran is the award-winning author of three novels: Everything Was Good-bye, Someone You Love is Gone and Help! I’m Alive. Her groundbreaking debut novel, was the winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was listed on many must-read lists including Chatelaine magazine’s book club pick, and CBC’s Writers to Read. A Simon Fraser University, Writer’s Studio alumna, Gurjinder balances the demands of her career in connected technologies and her creative life as she writes her fourth novel. Gurjinder lives in Delta, B.C. Visit her site here.

For more information on the Yosef Wosk VMI Fellowship, our mentors, and VMI mentoring options please visit vancouvermanuscriptintensive.com